A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Chief Wole Oke, has implored President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make the state feel the impact of the Federal Government under his administration.

Oke, a former Kwara State House of Assembly leader, urged the President-elect to pay special attention to the state by making it the economic hub of Nigeria.

The former secretary of Afenifere in the state told our correspondent that 'Kwarans' did not feel the impact of the two ministers from the state (Lai Mohammed and Senator Gbemisola Saraki).

Said he: “Like every Nigerian, the question that should normally play out on the lips of 'Kwarans' is: what awaits their state in terms of development, growth and progress in the next four years spanning the first tenure of the incoming President Tinubu.

“This question is not only natural, but also more justifiable in view of what has been the lot of the state these past 24 years of return to democratic governance under the previous administrations. What has been the evidence of the Federal Government presence in the state under the past four presidents, beginning with Olusegun Obasanjo to Musa Yar Adua to Goodluck Jonathan and ending with the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari?

“President Buhari has had the privilege and opportunity to lead the country for eight years. Kwara State has also had the rare opportunity of having two of her indigenes, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Senator Gbemisola Saraki, as members of the Federal Executive Council.

“For these eight years, what can the state boast of as the unique benefits to the state, deriving from, and/or attributable to the two ministers' membership of the Buhari administration and who are not only constitutionally, but naturally our ears and eyes in the executive arm of the Federal Government since these past eight years? God help us!

“What is/are our expectation(s) in the next four years, under the new President, our own 'son'?”

Oke, the Jagunmolu of Shao in Moro Local Government, enjoined the incoming President to give Kwara indigenes substantive appointments in meaningful offices.

“These appointments should include placement in commissions, corporations and boards of parastatal organisations and agencies,” he said.

“The President-elect should also take special cognisance of the state, that is, its geographical location, conferring on it a status, which has made it the navel of the country and around which the economic development of the country should therefore naturally revolve.

“The state has the most temperate climate, a factor which, in addition to the universally acknowledged fertile soil across every part of the three senatorial districts comprising the state, makes it most suitable for large-scale agricultural productivity, which should therefore make it more deserving of the Federal Government's special attention by making the state the nation's economic hub, particularly, in the agricultural sector and mineral resources exploration.”